Civil Disobedience In Support Of Repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell

On June 30th, 2009 1LT Daniel Choi was discharged from the US Army Reserves for one simple reason: he refused to continue a government sanctioned and clearly unconstitutional forced lie about his sexuality. On that day, he became the 275th victim of the Obama administration’s policy of Don't Ask Don't Tell. Lt. Choi is an Iraq veteran and West Point graduate and Arabic language specialist who has served more than ten years. His discharge under don't ask don't tell is a travesty of justice.

Lt. Colonel Victor Fehrenbach served for eighteen years and was a decorated aviator with twenty-two million dollars invested in training and equipping him. In September of 2008, Lt. Colonel Fehrenbach fell under the Don't Ask Don't tell guillotine after being outed by a civilian acquaintance.

These men have done nothing to deserve what the government has subjected them to. They did not deserve to have their lives and their careers destroyed because of bigotry. And yet both have found themselves in that very situation, along with thousands of other LGBT service men and women.

Six months into his presidency, Pres. Barrack Obama has clearly demonstrated that he intends to disregard his claims of change. Obama has the ability to stop DADT discharges with an executive order while a repeal of DADT and the military's discriminatory policies works its way through congress but instead of using his power as Commander In Chief to do the right thing, he has chosen inaction in dealing with DADT discharges in complete defiance of his claim of being a 'fierce advocate' for LGBT rights. His lack of action continues to allow good men and women serving their country to be discriminated against on a daily basis. Since it's inception, 13,000 soldiers have been fired under DADT. Millions of dollars have been spent training these individuals and then simply discarded because of government-sanctioned discrimination.

It has got to end. Now.

It's time to send a message to President Obama that we are no longer going to sit idly by and continue to allow our brothers and sisters to be the subjects of government sanctioned discrimination.

On July 30th, we will descend, in force, on the US Army recruiting office located at 670 Davis Street in San Francisco. We will rally in front of the office and make our message heard. We will picket the office and make it as difficult as possible for people to enter and exit the recruiting facility and do everything in our power to turn individuals away from that office. When forced to leave, we will proceed to the intersection of Broadway & Embarcadero streets where we will stage an intersection sit-in to get the message across that we will no longer tolerate the government's inaction while our civil rights and our dignity continue to be attacked. We will keep Davis & Broadway closed until we are arrested. Together we will peacefully stand in solidarity for Lt. Col. Fehrenbach, Lt. Choi and every other soldier who has been wrongly victimized and discriminated against under the guise of legality because of Washington cowardice.

If you can join us for this event, I ask that you do. If you choose not to get arrested, please come and rally with us in solidarity as we stand against the hatred the US Government refuses to end. If you can help in organizing this event, please contact me as soon as possible.

We will not be denied.

Love is worth it. - 1LT Daniel Choi